Linke on migration and integration

The Left wants to house refugees in decentralized apartments rather than large collective shelters and to set minimum standards. It rejects the payment card, residence restrictions and the special rules of the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act.

Refugees should not live in large shelters. The Left wants smaller homes spread across the city. Every person should have at least 9 square meters of space. The payment card for refugees should go. Refugees should be allowed to choose where they live.

According to the program, large collective shelters foster mental illness and violence and harm children. In the short term, minimum standards for privacy should apply, including nine square meters per person and child-appropriate facilities. Residence and housing obligations should be dropped from the start. Especially vulnerable people should be identified on arrival and protected from violence, and queer refugees should have their own safe shelters. In the party's view, the payment card serves to restrict and monitor people; instead, everyone should get a bank account. At the federal level it wants to end the lower standard of support under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act.

The Left wants unaccompanied refugee minors to start school quickly, be housed appropriately and be supported by youth welfare services. The age assessment procedure is to be dropped.

Some children and teens flee without parents. The Left wants to protect them better. They should go to school quickly and have good housing. Youth welfare services should help them. The authorities should no longer check their age.

The program says it takes many months for these young people to be assigned a guardian and reach the youth welfare system. The party sees a risk that they drift into crime as a result. Guardians are to be relieved of some of their workload. Young adults should also not be left alone in adult shelters and should get access to schooling.

The Left wants to scrap work bans for migrants nationwide and make language courses easier to access. The Office for Migration should process residence permits, benefits and naturalizations much faster.

Some migrants are not allowed to work. The Left wants to end these bans. Language courses should be available without long waits. The Office for Migration should work faster. Becoming a citizen should also be faster.

Hamburg should already issue as many work permits as possible. The party rejects the Jobturbo (a federal fast-track job placement program) because it pushes people with little German into mostly precarious work too early. Benefits should be paid immediately, at least as an advance, and benefit processing should get more staff. According to the program, the wait for naturalization in Hamburg is currently a year and a half. The party opposes cuts to migration counseling, psychosocial counseling and integration centers. Integration advisory councils should get participation rights anchored in law.

The Left rejects deportations, especially to war and crisis regions. It wants to restore the fundamental right to asylum without conditions and create a Hamburg admission program for the endangered relatives of Afghans living in the city.

The Left is against deportations. This is especially true for countries at war. The right to asylum should again apply without conditions. Afghans in Hamburg should be allowed to bring relatives who are in danger. Church asylum should stay protected.

The program names Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and Sudan as examples of crisis regions. Yazidis should not be sent back to Iraq, nor Pamiris to Tajikistan. The admission of local staff and the federal admission program for Afghanistan should remain in place. Independent counseling on asylum procedures should continue to be funded. The party considers church asylum necessary in Dublin cases and wants to strengthen it. As a principle, it says the causes of flight should be fought rather than refugees.